The New Zealand Business Mentor Programme makes available free of charge, the skills and experience of people who have proven themselves successful in business.

People in small businesses are very isolated. They can't just walk down the corridor and chat about their businesses with a colleague. Often they get bogged down in day to day operating details and forget to "take the helicopter ride up" to look at their business from a distance. Frequently they have forgotten what their original goals and plans were.

A Business Mentor can help them to refocus and /or can help them with specific advice.

Mentors are coaches, not consultants. They do not take the place of existing professional advisers, and in fact often recommend to their clients that they develop a closer relationship with their accountant, bank manager etc.

The Mentor Programme offers expertise in all areas of business management. Client and mentor are matched according to the skills needed by the client.

Clients get an empathetic person to listen to the challenges and difficulties they face. Often that alone is all that is needed to identify strategies and opportunities for growth.

As a result clients gain confidence in their ability to plan and manage a venture, meet new challenges, and learn how to obtain the skills necessary for achieving results.

Some things our clients have said about their business mentors:

"I cannot speak too highly of my mentor's input"

"My mentor was excellent as a sounding board and provided unbiased opinions on our progress and potential business opportunities such as pricing structure modelling for different markets"

"Excellent! I have learnt a lot"

"Exceeded all of my expectations. A very caring person, very impressed."

Next: Do you qualify for becoming a business mentor?